Episode #38: Meet the Startup Building Smart AI-Powered Dumbbells
Tech Optimist Podcast — Tech, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation
In this episode of The Tech Optimist, Meera Oak, a Partner at Alumni Ventures, interviews Kareem Aly, co-founder and CEO of Kabata, about their innovative AI-powered dumbbells designed to enhance strength training by tracking workout metrics and providing real-time coaching. Highlighting the product’s compact design and versatility, Aly explains how Kabata caters to both fitness enthusiasts and those with limited space. He also shares insights into their recent $5 million seed funding round led by Menlo Ventures, aimed at scaling production and marketing efforts ahead of their upcoming pre-order launch.
Episode #38 – Meet the Startup Building Smart AI-Powered Dumbbells
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In this episode of The Tech Optimist, Meera Oak, Partner at Alumni Ventures, interviews Kareem Aly, co-founder and CEO of Kabata, about their AI-powered dumbbells that revolutionize strength training with real-time coaching and workout tracking. Kareem also discusses Kabata’s compact design, its appeal to fitness enthusiasts, and their recent $5 million seed funding led by Menlo Ventures to scale production ahead of their pre-order launch.
Watch Time ~19 minutes
The show is produced by Alumni Ventures, which has been recognized as a “Top 20 Venture Firm” by CB Insights (’24) and as the “#1 Most Active Venture Firm in the US” by Pitchbook (’22 & ’23).
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Creators and Guests
HOST
Meera Oak
Partner at Alumni Ventures
Meera’s background includes strategic, financial, and operational experience from her time at Yale University, where she managed a $1B budget (of a $4B organization), led M&A transactions, and secured business development relationships with corporate partners. Most recently, she worked with early-stage venture funds and incubators like Create Venture Studio and Polymath Capital Partners and was responsible for launching business ventures and sourcing investments in enterprise SaaS, infrastructure, and ecommerce. Meera has a BA in Economics from Swarthmore College and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.
GUEST
Kareem Aly
CEO and Co-Founder, Kabata
Kareem Aly is CEO and co-founder of Kabata, creators of the world’s first AI-powered dumbbell.
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